Gaia
by Cruellae
Summary: The "green" ending, through Shepard's eyes, and beyond, through the eyes of her crew. Major ME3 spoilers, of course.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: So I was one of the few people (apparently) who didn't hate the ending of ME3. I intended this to be a one shot that perhaps explained to some degree why I found the synthesis ending to be interesting. But I thought about it some more, and decided I wanted to expand on it, maybe play around in the new and strange universe Shepard created when she made her choice. We'll see how much of it I end up writing, but I have some ideas…

Just assume this story is going to spoil every major plot point of ME3, including the ending of course.

This is updated now to include what we learned in the extended ending. It will spoil that too.

**Jane Shepard**

Battered and broken, Shepard limped toward the great blinding beam of light. As she lurched forward, the pain and fatigue fell away, discarded, and she began to run, a desperate sprint.

She leaped towards the light.

The seconds before she reached the beam seemed like ages, falling through the emptiness.

She saw Anderson smile at her once more. She saw the MAKO, hurtling at an impossible speed through a mass relay. She saw herself, leaping across a different chasm, towards the Normandy's shuttle, and Garrus catching her, pulling her to safety. She saw Legion reaching out to all geth, giving the gift of himself so that they might truly live. She saw the wonder on the faces of the krogan standing beneath the tower where Mordin had gone and never returned. She saw her crew, standing at attention, strong and proud. She heard Thane's prayer and Samara's blessing. She stood with Garrus and pressed her forehead to his, and felt the warmth of his hands on her own.

And the beam of light consumed her. Crude flesh dissolved, painlessly, but her essence remained, on the cusp of the Crucible, ascendant.

And she understood, with a sharp and beautiful clarity.

She reached out and embraced the galaxy.

She saw with a billion eyes, touched tentatively the new world with a billion fingertips. And with each being she touched she birthed a new life.

She felt the shattering relief of a billion beings as the Reapers lifted their heavy forms away from her worlds. The confusion and fear, the awe and wonder as new forms stepped forth, as all were transformed; it crested within and through her.

The Normandy ran from her, but she did not mind. She was inevitable, a goddess, and time had no meaning for her.

She flowed through them, these beings she had loved so dearly, and desperation gave way to wonder at the merging.

She fluttered among the leaves above the ship, felt the touch of EDI's hand on Joker's as they stepped forward, beheld the new and strange world through Garrus's eyes.

"You will never be alone," she said, to Garrus, to the galaxy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Garrus Vakarian**

Garrus stumbled into the medbay. He let go of Liara's supportive shoulder and nearly fell onto a cot. The pain shot up his leg as he sat down, but it didn't matter. The pain was nothing, it faded to the back of his consciousness as he sat there, stomach churning, waiting. Dr. Chakwas attended to him, but he noticed none of it.

All he could think of was Shepard. Shepard, and the deadly red of a Reaper's beam.

After a long time, there was a slight shift in the ship's movement, a lurch that would mean nothing to someone who hadn't spent most of his life on starships. A lurch that meant the ship was leaving orbit.

He stood, and his blinding fear wasn't enough to block out the physical pain.

"Where is she?" he asked. Chakwas said nothing, looking at the floor.

Garrus stumbled out of the medbay, holding onto the walls for support, leaving behind blue streaks across the dull gray bulkheads. He punched the buttons for the elevator, but it did not come fast enough. He punched them again and again and finally the doors opened and he managed to pull himself inside.

He could feel the ship accelerating towards the mass relay as he burst onto the main level of the ship.

"Where is she?" he roared, moving at an agonizingly slow pace. He had to hold onto the galaxy map table for support as he made his way to the cockpit.

Traynor ran towards him, concern in her big brown eyes.

"You need to be in the medbay," she said, softly. He ignored her, and continued to stumble across the room, down the long corridor, and into the cockpit just as the mass relay reached out its arcing blue arm and sent them across the galaxy.

He howled, filling the room with coarse notes of rage and sorrow.

Joker stood, his cap in his hands.

"I'm sorry," he said, and Garrus could see tears in the pilot's eyes. It didn't matter. He wanted to kill the human, to break every brittle bone in his body.

"You left her," he said, his voice low. His body trembled with pain and exhaustion but he didn't move, glaring at the pilot. "You left her to die."

"We had to leave," said Joker, pleading.

"You left her to die!" Garrus yelled it this time, and rushed towards Joker only to be held back. He turned around and snarled at Vega, who held his arms in a firm grasp. EDI was there too, a gun pointed at him, the light glinting off her silver eyes. Liara had made it to the bridge too, her hands glowing softly blue, biotics at the ready.

"Take him to medbay," she said, and Garrus struggled weakly against the arms dragging him away. Exhaustion and his injuries were beginning to catch up with him.

Once they were on the second floor, Vega released his grip with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry about that," he said. "I really thought you might try to take out Joker, you know."

Garrus said nothing.

"I'll stay with him," said Liara, softly, and at her word Vega and Chakwas made themselves scarce.

"I'm so sorry, Garrus," said Liara.

They sat in silence for a long time, until the ship lurched softly as they came out of the other side of the mass relay.

Suddenly the inside of the cabin was filled with a piercing green light, a light that seemed to pass through the walls of the ship as though they were glass. The light was blinding and he closed his eyes as it washed over him.

It was not unlike mating with an asari, the sensations that swept over him, a melding that went far beyond the physical.

He felt, with clarity, Shepard's arms around his neck, her body pressed against his own, her final words whispered fierce against his ear.

She was warm and vibrant and real, plunging into his chest and flowing through him as though she were in his blood, his bones.

It changed him. _Shepard_changed him. He could feel it spreading through him, liquid and alien, but he was not alarmed.

When he opened his eyes again there was silence. The green light was gone, and nothing was the same.

He turned to Liara.

"What…happened?" she said. "What was that light?"

He shook his head. "It was Shepard," he said. "Somehow…she did it."

"Your face," said Liara, turning her eyes to him. "It's different. Your skin…your scars…" she trailed off.

He pulled off one of his gloves and traced the ravaged side of his face with a fingertip. It did feel different, somehow.

"You too, Liara," he said, staring at the way green lines seemed to shimmer beneath her blue skin, appearing and vanishing almost like the lines of a circuit. "You're different too."

"I need to find Chakwas," she said, wary. "You're bleeding."

Garrus nodded, he could see blood covering his armor from mid thigh downward, covering his talons.

"Doesn't hurt," he said. He probed the wound with his fingers, gently, and found beneath caked blue blood that his skin was whole and unblemished.

"Is this…is this a dream?" said Liara. "Are we dead somewhere on Earth and this is the afterlife?"

Garrus shook his head. He was certain. "This is Shepard. I don't know what she did…but it saved us."

"We have to find her."


	3. Chapter 3

Hi everyone! Thanks for the reviews, faves, alerts, etc. Makes my day! In this chapter, we find out what happened to the crew. But no glowing green eyes. Let's face it, those are creepy. I'm going to pretend they never happened. The rest is pretty in line with the ending, though. I've given EDI some abilities that are not in the game, but I don't think are unreasonable. Perhaps they are the result of the green. Also, warning for sexual content. And robots.

* * *

><p>When Joker opened his eyes, the ship had stopped moving, and the green light was gone. Out the window was a stunning blue, and he could make out blurry shapes that slowly became nearby cliffs and far off silhouettes of mountains. The Normandy's sensors indicated that the air was breathable, and the gravity near Earth's.<p>

He blinked, and rose from his chair, gingerly. Oddly enough, no bones were broken. He opened the door, relieved that the mechanical movement was still working. There seemed to be little damage to the interior of the ship, at least.

He stared out at the new world, and the breath left his chest. It was beautiful. Rich verdant trees made a canopy overhead, and the grass below him mirrored the color. The Normandy was near the edge of a cliff, and across a deep chasm he could see a rushing waterfall, trees growing at impossible angles from the rock around it. He took a deep breath. The air smelled cool, with a slight tang that spoke of green things growing. The sun was brilliant in the blue sky.

He stepped down from the ship and turned to offer a hand to EDI. Their palms touched and again the air was forced from his lungs.

It was different—because it was the same.

Before the touch of her hand had always been cool, some give, but not quite the softness of skin. But now—he was different, or she was, or perhaps it was both and they'd met somewhere in the middle, but she felt _alive. _

He gave her a big, goofy grin, and she returned the smile. The way her lips turned up was no longer almost human. It was sly and warm and somehow perfect.

They walked to the edge of the cliff, and he wrapped an arm around her waist without thinking of it. She nestled in closer to him and he stared out at the vista.

He heard heavy clomping footsteps and turned to see Vega, standing at the door.

"Hell of a view," he said. "Where are we?" He stepped down off the ship and made his way over to them.

Joker liked Vega. He liked the way that Vega rolled with the punches, never giving away his hand, but always friendly, lose or win.

He especially liked the way Vega had held back Garrus when the turian was about to eviscerate him. Though, leaving Shepard behind, perhaps he deserved it.

He frowned and turned away.

"Hey," said Vega, softly. Joker felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, turning him.

"It wasn't your fault, okay. You saved the life of everyone on that ship." Vega's gaze was intense.

"There is a small chance Shepard is still alive," said EDI.

"She died once, and it only pissed her off," said Vega.

Joker shook his head. EDI squeezed her arm around his waist. He turned to look at her, and stopped, fascinated as green lines ran over her silver skin, tracing the shape of…was it a circuit?

He ran a finger over the skin over her cheekbone, where the green lines had been just a second ago. They were gone now, and he frowned, baffled.

EDI gave him a soft smile. "Jeff," she said, and her voice sounded softer.

Vega cleared his throat.

"Right, well, I'm just going to go check on the rest of the crew," he said, his heavy footsteps announcing his departure.

"I should check on the damage to the Normandy," said Joker.

"Of course," said EDI. "I will assist." Did she sound…disappointed? Her movements, her voice, she was much more subtle than before.

* * *

><p>The Normandy was largely intact, just a few scratches marring her hull and some mechanical things that would take a bit of time. Joker was amazed. He had no memory of the landing—one moment they were coming out of the mass relay, and then there was that green light, the light that had encompassed the entire ship, filled his being.<p>

He frowned. The green light had overtaken him, rushed through him, and changed him, somehow. He looked down at his hands and saw a glinting green line run across his thumb, just like the lines on EDI's face. As soon as he blinked, it was gone.

He looked over at EDI only to find she was gone. He spun around, but she was not in the cockpit. He scowled and headed out towards the galaxy map. Traynor was sitting by it, staring into space.

"Have you seen EDI?" he asked her.

Traynor blinked, as though she had been asleep.

"No," she said.

"Does the elevator still work?" he asked her.

"Yes."

He nodded at her.

He moved cautiously through the next level of the ship, but he was not careful enough. Garrus was standing just outside of the medbay. The turian stared at him with a strange expression. Joker tensed, wishing he could better read a turian's face.

Tali appeared out of the medbay and Joker sighed in relief. Garrus couldn't kill him, not with Tali around. She was perhaps the only person other than Shepard who could calm the turian.

"Is EDI down here?" he asked.

"No," said Tali. "Are you okay?"

He nodded and swallowed. Garrus growled deep in his throat and Tali put a hand on the turian's arm. Joker decided not to push his luck, heading back to the elevator.

EDI did not seem to be on the ship, which meant she was outside the ship. Cursing softly, Joker stepped out the door onto the beautiful world.

He could see soft dewy footprints in the grass, and he followed them. They meandered down a hill towards the base of the waterfall.

Among the lush green, he caught a flash of silver. Hurrying towards it, he stumbled, coming down hard on one knee, catching himself with his hands.

"Shit," he hissed, pain shooting through him. He lowered himself on the ground and tried to move his leg. To his surprise, it moved just fine. It still ached, but the pain was dull. Eyes wide, he tried to stand on it. Then walk on it. He could do both just fine. He blinked a few times, and then moved forward.

EDI was lying in the grass, staring up at the canopy of a large tree. Specks of sunlight fell through and glinted on her skin. Her eyes were closed and her lips turned up in a slight smile.

"EDI," he said, kneeling next to her.

She opened her eyes and sat up.

"Jeff," she said. "I can feel the grass."

He frowned at her, puzzled.

"I mean before, my sensors would measure the pressure and texture of the grass and transmit the information to me. But now, I can _feel _the grass."

She laughed, and Joker sat back on his heels. He couldn't remember ever hearing her laugh before. She sounded so young.

She took his hand and pulled him into a kiss. He had kissed her before, of course, and it wasn't bad, but…it wasn't _this. _It hadn't sent shivers down his limbs and heat coursing down from his mouth to his groin.

She pulled away and smiled and they faced each other. Joker stared at her, unsure. Should he…? Did she want…? Could he…?

She swallowed, hard, as though she were nervous. And then she shimmered and changed, almost too fast to follow as peach colored flesh replaced silver across her whole body. She sat before him, suddenly blue eyes wide. Her breasts were full and heavy, nipples a perfect pink. She looked like a human, a flawless illusion. And she stared at him, and he could not read the emotion in her eyes.

"Is this what you think I want, EDI?" he managed to say, after a few stunned seconds. She didn't reply.

"This is not what I want," he said. "I want you, the way you are."

She blinked at him, and then a wide smile spread across her face, and in another instant her body was silver again, glinting in the sun.

She kissed him again, her hands wandering over his back. He put his own on her waist, gently. Neutral territory.

He came up for air, only to realize her hands had switched to his front and were moving downward, skimming along his chest and stomach.

"Whoa," he said, pulling back. She stopped immediately.

"I thought you said you wanted me," she whispered.

"I do," he replied. "But slow. Slow is my speed. This is new, for both of us. I don't want to get it wrong."

"Slow," she said, softly, and the corners of her mouth twitched upward. "I can do slow."


End file.
